If Brett Favre feels healthy enough to play Green Bay’s next game, he should start.

It’s that simple.

Talk that he should sit out a game or two to heal up for the playoffs has some validity. If he had performed admirably in Thursday’s loss at Dallas, it’d be easier to justify. He could rest, come back closer to 100 percent and resume where he left off.

But he had his worst game of the year, by far. If you think his bruised right elbow and separated left shoulder hurt, imagine his mental pain from having reverted to his main bad habit of heaving the ball up for grabs?

He’d try to play today if he could. Returning for his team’s next game, Dec. 9 at home to Oakland, is a long enough wait to erase that discomfort.

The Packers need Favre, as quickly as possible, to regain the rhythm and confidence that helped him lead Green Bay to its 10-1 start.

If Favre has to play through some physical problems, let him. It will help him be ready for the playoffs more than it would sitting on the sideline, holding a clipboard and patting Aaron Rodgers on the back.

The Packers have a month of the regular season to develop a belief that they’ll be able to beat Dallas in a possible NFC Championship game. They’ll need all that time, with Favre playing and showing the way.

He’s dealt with both injuries before and recovered quickly. The consequences of hurting himself more by playing don’t appear to be enough of a factor to force him to sit.

A smashed right thumb and badly injured ankle couldn’t stop him before.

Favre will know if he should, or shouldn’t, play. He has earned the right to make the final call, no matter the advice he receives from those around him, short of doctors calling for amputation.

If the Packers want Favre to keep coming back, they have to keep him happy.

And that means playing him, if at all physically possible.

Rodgers will just have to keep waiting for regular duty.

The present belongs to Favre.

You can count on this — he won’t start just to keep his NFL-record, consecutive game streak of starts intact. If he elects not to play, there’s going to be one heck of a good reason.

This doesn’t seem to be it, or the time.

Reed Schreck is the NFL writer for the Rockford Register Star. Contact him at 815-987-1381 or rschreck@rrstar.com